


Even Humans Hurt

by Rainy_dearest



Category: Red vs. Blue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-17
Updated: 2012-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-18 20:46:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/565110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainy_dearest/pseuds/Rainy_dearest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of prompts from some sort of "torture my character" meme on Tumblr. All of them are York-Centric and a few are AU/do not follow canon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Body

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I realize I am awful. I enjoy it.

  * **Starve me.**



He’s taken shelter in the run down hotel, freezing even though he’s out of the cold winter air. He’s afraid to sleep, afraid for a moment that he won’t wake up. The gnawing in his stomach won’t let him though. A constant reminder that he’s going to die if he doesn’t get a job, if he doesn’t find some kind soul who will offer him a free meal out of kindness, if he doesn’t get any goddamn food into his stomach. He hasn’t stolen in a long time, but he’s desperate and homeless and hungry and cold and _tired._ But he’ll wait until morning, until he convinces himself that it won’t be easier to just lie down and give up.

  *  **Torture me.**



Damn, getting captured was _not_  part of the plan, and as much as York likes to improvise, he could do with out this one. They keep yelling at him and -okay, yeah he gets it, they want goddamn information- but do they have to be so fucking  _loud_? His head already hurts from the bright lights and the fact that they pretty much used him as a punching bag for hours. 

They grow tired eventually, when he still refuses to answer any of their questions, and they leave him tied up and nearly unconscious as they try to pass the time until their leader arrives with a new plan. York is relieved until one of the bored soldiers mutters

“Knock knock.”

 _Oh fuck no._ He thinks. _Just kill me._

  *  **Abuse me.**



She’s lost it. He knows she’s lost it, and he doesn’t know how to stop her. She beats on his chest, aims an elbow at his face and he knows he’s going to have a black eye in the morning. He doesn’t know how to stop her without hurting her though, so he stands in the dim light in his bedroom and lets her beat him, lets her push him down and scream at him (even though it’s not really her, it can’t be. They’ve just taken her away from him for awhile and he just has to wait for her to come back.)

She eventually tires and collapses against him, and even though he’s bruised and bleeding he holds her gently, afraid that she’ll break.

  *  **Leave me for dead.**



“Wait! Don’t let them-” he can’t quite form the words, can’t remember what he was saying. There’s a light, a little green light that he for some reason he takes comfort in. Everything still hurts, everything, and he can’t breathe. Footsteps echo as they move away from him and distantly he can hear shouting, a scuffle, silence. “Don’t leave me.” he begs silently. “Please… I’m scared to be alone… I don’t want to die alone…”

The green light flickers, mechanical words bounce in his head, trying to calm him. But his armor begins to shut down, and soon York is left in the dark.

The next light he sees isn’t green, and isn’t quite as comforting as he’d hoped.


	2. Mind

  * **Remind me of the past.**



 

The lighter sits, heavy in his pocket. He always carries it around with him now. Sometimes he’ll take it out and flick it on and off, even though he hasn’t smoked in years. The flame brings back a flood of memories. The flashing lights of a nightclub. The brilliant red hair of the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. The glint of a pistol and a radiant smile. The softening of green eyes at a bad joke. Warm coffee on long nights. Smooth skin against his own. Slender fingers entwined with his own.

Echoing screams and harsh words and running footsteps.

The lighter sits, heavy in his pocket. It will stay there until the day he finds her and returns it, and with it, everything he meant to say.

  * **Remind me of those I hurt**



He never thought much of his jabs at the kid. It was all for fun, really. Wash was young, naive, and York genuinely liked him. And he liked their banter. And he liked to mess with him, but he still felt awful when he pushed it too far. When Wash’s shoulders slumped and it seemed like all his confidence had been drained, and he gave York a nervous look with sad eye. Of course he would always just grin and pat him on the back, and everything would be good again.

But with Wash in recovery, his screams filling up every moment that he wasn’t unconscious, there was no room for banter. York was just left with hours to replay every cruel joke in his mind, everything that he’d never get the chance to apologize for

  *  **Remind me of my failures.**



He should have gotten out of the way in the training match with Tex.

He should have done more to help Maine on the highway.

He should have talked to CT.

He should have known something would go wrong with Wash.

He should have tried to stop South from fighting with her brother so much.

He should have reminded Carolina how much she meant to him. He should have convinced her not to get two AIs. He should have run down to help her the moment she started screaming. He should have stayed with her. He should have tried harder to help her. He should have chased after her when she pushed him away.

He should have seen Wyoming aiming for his chest.


	3. Heart (part I)

**Heart:**

  * **Tell me a loved one is dead.**



“York, we need to talk.” York ignores the worry in North’s eyes, trying to get out of their room and into the hall.

 

“Can this wait? I want to get back to Carolina. The medics wouldn’t let me stay with her last night and I-“

 

“That’s what I’m trying to talk to you about.” North sounds…  _tired._ Like he’s trying to be patient and gentle but something is really bothering him. He puts a hand on York’s shoulder and shakes his head. “Carolina…. she-she killed herself last night.”

 

York rocks back, barely managing to catch himself on one of the beds as his knees give out. He feels like he’s going to throw up, and his throat burns, and he can’t seem to remember how to breathe. His entire world has crumbled down, fizzed out, gone dark. He can hear North telling him how sorry he his, how it was unexpected, how she didn’t suffer long, but he sounds far away. Suddenly, everything feels numb.

  * **Take away a loved one.**



He woke up to her screaming. Carolina was hunched over, clutching her head, begging someone to make the voices stop, even though the AI had been removed days ago. York threw off the covers and reached out to grab her, trying to comfort her. Delta called for medics as he tried to pry Carolina’s hands away from her skin before she could hurt herself again.

The medics rushed in and quickly began to surround them, pulling York away from the troubled woman. He stumbled to his feet as they dragged her out of bed as well. “Be careful.” York heard himself say over and over. “Be careful with her.” She was still screaming, trying to jerk out of the medics’ grasps even as they attempted to sedate her.

She stared up at him, terrified. ”York! York! Don’t let them take me!” she pleaded, tears streaming down her face. “Please don’t let them take me back there!” She was just delusional, York reasoned, the doctors knew what they were doing, they would help her. She kept struggling, less now that the sedative was setting in, as they began to carry her back to Recovery. She grew even more upset when he just stood by and let them. “Why are you doing this?!” She sobbed “They’re going to hurt me, York! Don’t make me- no, NO! YORK HELP! WHY AREN’T YOU HELPING ME?!”

Her screams died off as they rushed her down the hall, but they still echoed in York’s mind as he leaned against the doorway, his head cradled in his hands


	4. Heart (part II)

  * **Torture a loved one.**



He was pinned, like an insect to an examination table, underneath a door or a wall or some sort of rubble from their fight with Maine- or whatever that _thing_  was. York was sure that at least one of his legs was broken, and he couldn’t move.  _He couldn’t save her._

Sigma laughed at his new experiment, watching Carolina writhe on the ground as he forced her AIs to rip her mind apart again. He would take them soon, just like he took the rest, but he wanted to make her pay for the trouble she’d put him through to get them. 

“Stop it!” York yelled, his voice mixing with Carolina’s to form a crude harmony. “Come on, stop! You’re hurting her!” Sigma tilted his head at York, a frightening smile twisting his holographic features. 

“Agent York, I’ve never heard you so distressed before. You’re always so… level headed. I’ve always wondered what it would take to make you lose your cool.” the AI pondered. “You must really care for Agent Carolina, am I correct?” Sigma’s smile widened, and York started to feel sick. “After all, it’s the ones we love who have the ability to hurt us the most.”

Sigma turned back to Maine and nodded, signalling him to rip the AI from Carolina’s armor. She fell silent and went limp in his grasp as the programs were violently removed from her mind. “Her helmet, Agent Maine.” Sigma prompted. “I don’t think just listening will cause enough damage.” Maine jerked off Carolina’s helmet and shoved her to the ground, placing a foot on her chest to keep her from getting up.

“No, no. Oh god please no.” York whispered under his breath. She already looked terrified and pained from the AIs’ attack, tear stains glimmering on her cheeks as she waited for what would come next. Maine loaded his pistol and aimed it at her right arm socket before pulling the trigger. York watched Carolina bite her lip, trying not to show any weakness, but a strangled cry still escaped her. 

He tried to drag himself toward her, just to reach her, protect her, but he was trapped and could only watch as Maine reloaded. “What the fuck are you doing?! You have her AIs, just let her go!” he begged. “Maine, come on buddy. She’s your friend, remember? Don’t do this, please!” The hulking figure paused for a moment, looking toward York as if he had just noticed him. The hesitation didn’t last long, however, and Sigma laughed as another bullet lodged itself in Carolina’s shoulder.

She didn’t hold back from screaming that time, and she started to struggle and kick out, attempting to get away from the… _thing_  that wasn’t Maine. York stared on helplessly, eyes wide and throat burning. _It_ began to grow tired of her squirming and stomped down on her legs. A sickening crack split through the air as the first broke, and Carolina shrieked when the other bent unnaturally.

Sigma taunted her as it kicked her in the stomach again and again. “What’s wrong Carolina? I thought you were supposed to be strong? Why aren’t you fighting back?” The read head was silently crying, unable to answer as her her breath was repeatedly knocked out of her lungs. York started screaming, pleading with them to stop hurting her. Tears blurred his vision, but he couldn’t make himself turn away.

It paused for a moment, it’s hulking form looming over the broken woman. Sigma smirked as Carolina feebly tried to drag herself away. The… the  _monster_ swung down the blade of it weapon, pinning her arm to the ground. “STOP IT! STOP! PLEASE! OH GOD JUST PLEASE!” Once again it lifted his pistol and began firing shots into her torso. ” WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? GET AWAY FROM HER! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU’RE KILLING HER!” It jerked the brute shot out of her shoulder and lifted it above his head. “NO! _NO NO OH GOD STOP IT STOP! FUCK PLEASE NO! PLEASE I’LL DO ANYTHING JUST DON’T DO THIS TO HER PLEASE!”_

The blade ripped through Carolina’s abdomen, tearing an inhuman, blood freezing scream from her throat. York’s world stopped, her cries ringing in his ears. Sigma let out a joyous laugh as his host kicked her limp body away. She rolled to a stop inches away from York, her wide eyes staring blankly at him. He reached out a hand, gently brushing it against her bloody and tear stained face.

He was sobbing, huge, gut wrenching sobs that tore through his chest and made his whole body shake. A slender hand weakly gripped his own, and York found himself unable to tear his gaze away from her green eyes as the light began to drain out of them. “York.” Carolina’s voice was raw and barely above a whisper.”York don’t. It’s okay. Please don’t…”

“No.” He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t let this happen. Crimson blood mixed with the dust beneath them, but he only saw her. The beautiful woman he had loved for so long, taking her final breaths.


End file.
